Messi was the name on everybody's lips in the Catalan capital as Barca overcame
an early Arsenal goal to triumph 4-1 on the night and advance, in some style, to
the semi-finals of the Champions League for the third year running.

The Argentinian struck a superb first half hat-trick to switch the
balance of power in a tie Arsenal had momentarily threatened to win, before
adding a fantastic fourth goal in the closing stages to seal a memorable night
for Guardiola's side.

Guardiola, who recently claimed to be lost for words to describe the
brilliance of his star player, chose to focus on the player's human aspect while
all around were marvelling at the latest chapter in the consecration of a truly
wonderful footballer.

''The good thing is about Messi is that tomorrow he will get up and look for
the affection of his people and his team-mates,'' he said. ''I like the love he has for football and his anonymous character.

For Messi, it was a satisfactory night, but there was no question of wild
celebrations or believing the hype. It was put to him that a similar performance would be handy on Saturday in the vital league match at Real Madrid. And Messi was as honest and as humble as ever.

He said: ''I don't think so, we would be happy with any kind of win, a 1-0.
We are happy to go through tonight, but we have to keep going.''

Asked how he would describe the performance of a player who is still only
22, Guardiola said words were insufficient.

''You have to see it - it is not something you can describe because you have
to see it to believe it,'' he said. ''All the players were brilliant and I think it's a great achievement to be in the semi-finals again because this competition is so difficult.''

''I congratulate the team and beyond that, the club, because in five years we
have played four Champions League semi-finals and that speaks highly of the
club.

''We had more possession than them, though the game was dangerous, but when we
equalised we calmed down and we were very aggressive in defence.''